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Cases of younger onset Alzheimer's disease growing

Published On: Oct 21 2013 10:07:00 PM CDT

BOSTON -

People as young as 30 are now being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and the numbers are growing.

"We had planned, after the kids were gone, to go down to Staples, buy a map of the world and a box of flag pins, put that map up in the family room ,you know, and mark our travels," said Alan Holbrook, whose wife, Bernadette was diagnosed at 57 years old.

That was eight years ago.

The former teacher was a victim of younger onset Alzheimer's disease, a form of Alzheimer's that affects people younger than 65, but in hindsight, Holbrook said there were signs years before that.

"One day, I got a call at work. 'Come get her.' They couldn't trust her around kids anymore," Holbrook said.

Dr. Robert Stern is director of the clinical core of Boston University's Alzheimer's Disease Center.

"The disease starts around 15 to 25 years before the first symptoms, and it's only when enough brain tissue gets devastated by the disease that the symptoms begin," Stern said.

Right now, 5½ million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. As few as 1-in-25, or as many as one-in-10, could suffer from younger onset.

"She (had) no cognitive ability. She (had) no vocal ability," Holbrook said. "The heart (was) still beating in that body, and it's still taking breaths, but my wife's (was) not in there anymore," Holbrook said.

"When it starts having an impact on someone's life, earlier in their life, in their 50s, early 60s, it has a bigger impact," Stern said. They want to have this full life ahead of them. They have dreams."

"If nine years ago you had asked me if I thought any of this kind of stuff was going to happen to me, I would of laughed at you. A year later, and in the eight ensuing years, I don't laugh anymore," Holbrook said.

Holbrook's wife passed away on Memorial Day.

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